PSE’s web site says that 36% of the power they supplied in 2010 came from coal … burning a fossil fuel and spewing carcinogens into the air we breathe.
A July 2010 report entitled “Puget Sound Energy 2010 Greenhouse Gas Inventory” makes for interesting reading. On page ES-2, we learn that “about 54.7% of the electricity generated by PSE came from coal combustion but this electricity source represented about 77.3% of the C02 emissions from electricity generated by PSE.”
It goes on to say that
“Compared to 2009, the total electricity throughput decreased by 7% and GHG emissions increased by 2%. The electricity generated by PSE from coal combustion (higher GHG emission intensity) increased and electricity generated by PSE from natural gas/oil (lower GHG emission intensity) decreased, leading to the overall emission intensity for electricity generated by PSE to increase compared to 2009.”
So much for their claims of going “Green”! They decreased the amount of electricity they supplied and still increased greenhouse gasses over the previous year. The 2011 report should be out sometime in July, and as soon as it’s on their web site we’ll let you know.
By the time you read this, PSE may have scrubbed their site and buried this even deeper … so we have the document as downloaded from the PSE web site in PDF form on June 5, 2012 at 7:51AM available here. Page ES-2 is the eighth (8th) page of the 64-page document.
We’ve asked PSE to explain how a utility can be considered “green” if they increase their greenhouse gases year-over-year. If they (or their attorneys) contact us re this, we will report it here. I wouldn’t hold my breath … or then, with the increase in greenhouse gases from our “green” private monopoly utility, maybe we should.